Ramadi (Iraq): A suicide attack and a car bomb today targeted people mourning an Iraqi police officer who died in clashes two days before, killing six people, police and a doctor said.

The suicide bomber detonated explosives inside a building near the city of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, where people had gathered to pay their condolences to the family of Colonel Majid al-Fahdawi.

Later a car bomb exploded nearby. The two attacks killed a total of six people and wounding eight.
Iraqi security forces are battling a major militant offensive that is advancing east through Anbar province, of which Ramadi is the capital.

Fahdawi was apparently killed in clashes in the border town of Al-Qaim on Friday, which is now in the hands of militants.

Beginning late on June 9, militants led by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) but also including a number of other groups such as loyalists of executed dictator Saddam Hussein, overran most of one province and parts of three others north of Baghdad.

The security forces wilted in the face of the initial onslaught, in many cases abandoning vehicles, equipment and even their uniforms.

They appear to have recovered in the past few days, with officials touting gains against militants, though insurgents have made territorial progress elsewhere.